• MISULJARYO - National Museum of Korea Art Journal
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• v.96
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• pp.155-180
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• 2019

Samsaebulhoedo(三世佛會圖) at Yongjusa Temple(龍珠寺), regarded as a monumental masterpiece consisting of different elements such as Confucian and Buddhist ideas, palace academy garden and Buddhist artist styles, unique traditional and western painting styles, is one of the representative works that symbolically illustrate the development and innovation of painting in the late Joseon dynasty. However, the absence of painting inscriptions raised persistent controversy over the past half century among researchers as to the matters of estimating its production period, identifying the original author and analyzing style characteristics. In the end, the work failed to gain recognitions commensurate with its historical significance and value. It is the particularly vital issue in that estimating the production period of the existing masterpiece is the beginning of all other discussions. However, this issue has caused the ensuing debates since all details are difficult to be interpreted to a concise form due to a number of different records on painters and mixture of traditional buddhist painting styles used by buddhist painters and innovative western styles used by ordinary painters. Contrary to other ordinary Buddhist paintings, this painting, Samsaebulhoedo, has a praying letter for the royal establishment at the center of the main altar. It should be noted that regarding this painting, its original version-His Royal Highness King, Her Majesty, His Royal Crown Prince主上殿下, 王妃殿下, 世子邸下-was erased and instead added Her Love Majesty慈宮邸下 in front of Her Majesty. This praying letter can be assumed as one of the significant and objective evidence for estimating its production period. The new argument of the late 19th century production focused on this praying letter, and proposed that King Sunjo was then the first-born son when Yongjusa Temple was built in 1790 and it was not until January 1, 1800 that he was ascended to the Crown Prince. In this light, the existing praying letter with the eulogistic title-Crown Prince世子-should be considered revised after his ascension to the throne. Styles and icons bore some resemblance to Samsaebulhoedo at Cheongryongsa Temple or Bongeunsa Temple portrayed by Buddhist painters in the late 19th century. Therefore, the remaining Samsaebulhoedo should be depicted by them in the same period as western styles were introduced in Buddhist painting in later days. Following extensive investigations, praying letters in Buddhist paintings in the late 19th century show that it was usual to record specification such as class, birth date and family name of people during the dynasty at the point of producing Buddhist paintings. It is easy to find that those who passed away decades ago cannot be revised to use eulogistic titles as seen by the praying letters in Samsaebulhoedo at Yongju Temple. As "His Royal Highness King, Her Majesty, His Royal Crown Prince" was generally used around 1790 regardless of the presence of first-born son or Crown Prince, it was rather natural to write the eulogistic title "His Royal Crown Prince" in the praying letter of Samsaebulhoedo. Contrary to ordinary royal hierarchy, Her Love Majesty was placed in front of Her Majesty. Based on this, the praying letter was assumed to be revised since King Jeongjo placed royal status of Hyegyeonggung before the Queen, which was an exceptional case during King Jeongjo's reign, due to unusual relationships among King Jeongjo, Hyegyeonggung and the Queen arising from the death of Crown Prince(思悼世子). At that time, there was a special case of originally writing a formal tripod praying letter, as can be seen from ordinary praying letter in Buddhist paintings, erasing it and adding a special eulogistic title: Her Love Majesty. This indicates that King Jeongjo identified that Hyegyeonggung was erased, and commanded to add it; nevertheless, ceremony leaders of Yongju Temple, built as a palace for holding ceremonies of Hyeonryungwon(顯隆園) are Jeongjo, the son of his father and his wife Hyegyeonggung (Her Love Majesty)(惠慶宮(慈宮)). This revision is believed to be ordered by King Jeongjo on January 17, 1791 when the King paid his first visit to the Hyeonryungwon since the establishment of Hyeonryungwon and Yongju Temple, stopped by Yongju Temple on his way to palace and saw Samsaebulhoedo for the first and last time. As shown above, this letter consisting of special contents and forms can be seen an obvious, objective testament to the original of Samsebulhoedo painted in 1790 when Yongju Temple was built.

• (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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• no.43
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• pp.5-46
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• 2021

The film Moranbong is the product of a trip to North Korea in 1958, when Armangati, Chris Marker, Claude Lantzmann, Francis Lemarck and Jean-Claude Bonardo left at the invitation of Joseon Film. However, for political reasons, the film was not immediately released, and it was not until 2010 that it was rediscovered and received attention. The movie consists of the narratives of Young-ran and Dong-il, set in the Korean War, that are folded into the narratives of Chunhyang and Mongryong in the classic Chunhyangjeon of Joseon. At this time, Joseon's classics are reproduced in the form of the drama Chunhyangjeon, which shares the time zone with the two main characters, and the two narratives are covered in a total of six scenes. There are two layers of middle-story frames in the movie, and if the same narrative is set in North Korea in the 1950s, there is an epic produced by the producers and actors of the Changgeuk Chunhyangjeon and the Changgeuk Chunhyangjeon as a complete work. In the outermost frame of the movie, Dong-il is the main character, but in the inner double frame, Young-ran, who is an actor growing up with the Changgeuk Chunhyangjeon and a character in the Changgeuk Chunhyangjeon, is the center. The following three OST albums are Corée Moranbong released in France in 1960, Musique de corée released in 1970, and 朝鮮の伝統音樂-唱劇 「春香伝」と伝統樂器- released in 1968 in Japan. While Corée Moranbong consists only of the music from the film Moranbong, the two subsequent albums included additional songs collected and recorded by Pyongyang National Broadcasting System. However, there is no information about the movie Moranbong on the album released in Japan. Under the circumstances, it is highly likely that the author of the record label or music commentary has not confirmed the existence of the movie Moranbong, and may have intentionally excluded related contents due to the background of the film's ban on its release. The results of analyzing the detailed scenes of the Changgeuk Chunhyangjeon, Farewell Song, Sipjang-ga, Chundangsigwa, Bakseokti and Prison Song in the movie Moranbong or OST album in the 1950s are as follows. First, the process of establishing the North Korean Changgeuk Chunhyangjeon in the 1950s was confirmed. The play, compiled in 1955 through the Joseon Changgeuk Collection, was settled in the form of a Changgeuk that can be performed in the late 1950s by the Changgeuk Chunhyangjeon between 1956 and 1958. Since the 1960s, Chunhyangjeon has no longer been performed as a traditional pansori-style Changgeuk, so the film Moranbong and the album Corée moranbong are almost the last records to capture the Changgeuk Chunhyangjeon and its music. Second, we confirmed the responses of the actors to the controversy over Takseong in the North Korean creative world in the 1950s. Until 1959, there was a voice of criticism surrounding Takseong and a voice of advocacy that it was also a national characteristic. Shin Woo-sun, who almost eliminated Takseong with clear and high-pitched phrases, air man who changed according to the situation, who chose Takseong but did not actively remove Takseong, Lim So-hyang, who tried to maintain his own tone while accepting some of modern vocalization. Although Cho Sang-sun and Lim So-hyang were also guaranteed roles to continue their voices, the selection/exclusion patterns in the movie Moranbong were linked to the Takseong removal guidelines required by North Korean musicians in the name of Dang and People in the 1950s. Second, Changgeuk actors' response to the controversy over the turbidity of the North Korean Changgeuk community in the 1950s was confirmed. Until 1959, there were voices of criticism and support surrounding Taksung in North Korea. Shin Woo-sun, who showed consistent performance in removing turbidity with clear, high-pitched vocal sounds, Gong Gi-nam, who did not actively remove turbidity depending on the situation, Cho Sang-sun, who accepted some of the vocalization required by the party, while maintaining his original tone. On the other hand, Cho Sang-seon and Lim So-hyang were guaranteed roles to continue their sounds, but the selection/exclusion patterns of Moranbong was independently linked to the guidelines for removing turbidity that the Gugak musicians who crossed to North Korea had been asked for.